When giving a patient an infusion or blood transfusion or performing extracorporeal blood circulation during surgery, it is necessary to form a channel (transport line) for transporting a liquid such as a drug solution or blood. Transport lines are generally formed by connecting containers, various types of instruments, tubes, and the like. One known method for connecting different members is the slip connection of a male luer serving as the male member and a needleless port serving as the female member (e.g., see Patent Documents 1 and 2). The needleless port has a partition wall member (hereinafter referred to as a “septum”) that is made of an elastic material such as rubber and has a linear slit (incision) formed in the central portion. The needleless port and the male luer can be put in communication with each other by inserting the male luer (tubular body), which does not have a sharp metal needle such as an injection needle attached thereto, into the slit in the septum. The slit in the septum immediately closes when the male luer is withdrawn from the needleless port. In this way, the septum is resealable, and a male luer repeatedly can be inserted and withdrawn.
There are cases where the drug solution contains a drug designated as a dangerous drug, such as some anticancer drugs. There are also cases where blood contains a pathogen or the like. Accordingly, it is necessary to avoid a situation where a liquid such as a drug solution or blood leaks out and comes into contact with the operator's finger or the like, or the operator inhales vapor from the liquid.
In the above-described slip connection, the slit in the septum immediately closes when the male luer is withdrawn from the needleless port, and therefore there is generally a low possibility of liquid leaking out from the needleless port when the male luer is not connected. However, since the male luer is exposed to the outside before being inserted into the needleless port and after being withdrawn, and there is a possibility of liquid leaking out from the male luer.
In order to reduce the possibility of liquid leaking out from the male luer when it is not connected to the needleless port, there is a known method of covering a male luer 910 with a retractable cover 920 as shown in FIG. 19 (see Patent Documents 3 and 4). The cover 920 includes an outer circumferential wall 921 that has a substantially tubular shape, and one end of the outer circumferential wall 921 is blocked by a top panel 923. The male luer 910 has a tubular shape, and an opening 912 for the inflow and outflow of a liquid is formed in the tip. A linear slit (incision) 925 is formed in the top panel 923 at a position opposing the opening 912 in the male luer 910. A septum 951 of a needleless port 950 is a disc-shaped member made of an elastic material such as rubber, and a linear slit (incision) 952 is formed in the center. The septum 951 is fixed by being sandwiched by a base portion 953 that has a substantially cylindrical shape and a port cap 955.
As shown in FIG. 19, when the male luer 910 is not connected to the needleless port 950, the opening 912 in the male luer 910 is blocked by close contact with the top panel 923 of the cover 920. The slit 925 in the cover 920 is closed. When the male luer 910 is pushed into the needleless port 950 in this state, the male luer 910 passes through the slit 925 in the cover 920 and then passes through the slit 952 in the septum 951, and thus the male luer 910 and the needleless port 950 can be connected. At this time, the outer circumferential wall 921 of the cover 920 undergoes compression deformation due to the compression force applied to the cover 920. Thereafter, when the male luer 910 is withdrawn from the needleless port 950, the outer circumferential wall 921 of the cover 920 extends due to its elastic restoring force and returns to its initial state.
By placing the cover 920 over the male luer 910 as described above, the opening 912 in the male luer 910 can be blocked with the top panel 923 of the cover 920 when the male luer 910 is not connected to the needleless port 950 as shown in FIG. 19. Accordingly, there is a low possibility of liquid leaking out from the male luer 910.